Employers Encourage Workers to Volunteer

David McGinty spends five to 10 hours a week helping the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington with such projects as training staff to teach hundreds of kids computer literacy.

He doesn't have to worry about his volunteer work getting in the way of his real work as a manager in the Washington National Tax group of Deloitte. That's because Deloitte asked him to give his time to the nonprofit organization. McGinty, a product of a Boys & Girls Club in his home state of Alabama, was more than happy to comply, and does some of the work on his own time.

"We have hectic schedules and travel a lot, but I wanted to be involved in the Boys & Girls Clubs and help them out and have an impact within the community," he said.

Companies large and small have been making cutbacks due to poor earnings, but that's not putting an end to the charitable work that nonprofit organizations have come to expect from them. This year, however, as the economic outlook grows more dire each day, corporations are increasingly donating the skills of their employees, on company time, rather than just dollars, local companies and nonprofit groups said.

"I think it's a reality of the economic times," said Lisa M. Hamilton, president of the UPS Foundation, which among other things has trained 17 employees to be part of a response team that can be deployed to major natural disasters. "Companies are unable to provide grants at the same levels of the past. They are looking for creative ways to continue to help communities."

The argument for skills-based volunteerism is that nonprofits can't afford consulting at private sector rates. So the corporations are doing good deeds while saving some money that would otherwise go to donations. Some companies are replacing their monetary contributions with skills-based volunteerism. Others are continuing to donate dollars but supplementing that with this different form of charity.

"This is a cost to our company, but it's not the same as writing a check from a different budget, and our people love doing it," said Emily Rothberg, southeast leader for community involvement for Deloitte.

Companies do not receive tax deductions for their employees' volunteer work -- even if it is a corporate-wide effort such as a volunteer day, said Katy Moore, member services manager for the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, a nonprofit member association for philanthropic associations. In fact, she added, the IRS does not recognize the giving of time as a deduction at all -- not for individuals or businesses.

Leah Lamb, chief development officer of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington, said it is too soon to tell how much corporations are going to cut back on monetary contributions because they are usually given around the holidays.

"We're just at the stage everyone else is at of biting our nails and not understanding how the economy will affect us," she said. "We know it will affect us, but we don't know how yet."

In the meantime, Lamb said her organization is profiting from the skills of employees from not just Deloitte, but also companies such as Marriott and Verizon.

"They've been great at providing expertise that we couldn't pay for if we needed to," she said.